A less lethal peanut

The prevalence of peanut allergies among children quadrupled between 1997 and 2010, for unclear reasons but at great consequence—severe reactions can require hospitalization and can sometimes be fatal. Responses to the growing problem have ranged from creating peanut-free zones in places like schools to increasing the availability of EpiPens, but, as the New York Times Magazine reports, some researchers are wondering if it wouldn't be more effective to change the makeup of the peanut itself.

Can natural be profitable?

When big processed-food companies try to make their products less synthetic, does it hurt business? We'll find out more this week when General Mills and ConAgra release earnings reports—both businesses have struggled to keep customers as they introduced more natural versions of products like Trix cereal and Yoplait yogurt.

Metal mouth

"Best" labeling

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is asking meat and dairy manufacturers to ditch "best by" and "sell by" labels in favor of a single alternative: "best if used by." What's at stake, reports Mother Nature Network, is food waste: consumers often throw out perfectly edible food because the labels' phrasing leads to confusion about whether it should still be consumed or not. (Dates on labels often indicate "peak quality," not the moment a food becomes unsafe to eat.) The USDA is aiming at a 50 percent reduction in food waste by 2030.

A food conundrum

Atlas Obscura introduces us to something called the Incompatible Food Triad, which has stumped philosophers and mathematicians for decades. The basic conundrum is this: "Can you think of three foods where any two of those foods taste good together, but all three combined taste disgusting?" Clearly not the greatest problem of our time, but fun to chew over nonetheless.

"Postelection solidarity" in the form of dinner

In this tense, anxious interval following the presidential election, a home cook living in Brooklyn is making meals for her LGBTQ neighbors using leftover food from the grocery store where she works. "I love to cook, feel passionate about nutritious eating, and have access to a lot of really good produce for free or cheap," Kirsten Adorian told NPR. "So I figured, why not offer food to people who are having a hard time?"

Purple carrot, literally

The color of 2017.

Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Food Styling by Katherine Sacks.

Among Whole Foods' predictions for 2017 food trends, the most colorful is the suggestion that purple foods (?) are about to have a moment.